An investigation into the carbon and material footprint of the Dutch consumption of pharmaceuticals

Abstract

This thesis explores the relatively large contribution of the product category ‘chemicals n.e.c.’ (chemicals not elsewhere classified) to the Dutch healthcare sector’s carbon and material footprint observed in previous studies. For this, an input-output study using SNAC-EXIOBASE data was performed. SNAC-EXIOBASE uses national statistics for the Dutch part of the multi-regional input-output table. It also distinguishes a separate chemical and pharmaceutical industry in the Dutch part. This can help identify possible aggregation problems in the EXIOBASE category ‘chemicals n.e.c.’ which is an aggregate of the chemical and pharmaceutical industry sectors. Comparing the carbon and material footprint of pharmaceuticals used in the Dutch health care sector as calculated with (default) EXIOBASE and SNAC-EXIOBASE shows that there is an aggregation problem in the ‘chemicals n.e.c.’ category. This means that grouping the pharmaceutical industry with the chemical industry greatly influences the carbon and material footprint of pharmaceuticals. The carbon footprint decreases by 11% and the material footprint by 61% when using SNAC-EXIOBASE compared to EXIOBASE data. The multiplier analysis showed that in all cases the Dutch pharmaceutical industry has a lower carbon, mineral and metal intensity (footprint per euro) compared to the Dutch chemical industry or ‘chemicals n.e.c.’ confirming the aggregation problem. The LCA literature review showed that the range of carbon intensities of individual pharmaceuticals matches the carbon intensity of the ‘pharmaceutical industry’ in SNAC-EXIOBASE. This study also showed that the material footprint of the Dutch healthcare sector is uncertain and should be used with care. Future research should focus on using MRIOs that better depict the pharmaceutical industry like the ICIO which is based on the ISIC Rev. 4 classification and, therefore, includes a separate pharmaceutical industry. Before performing analyses with the ICIO is possible, higher sectoral resolution and environmental extensions are needed.